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The Wingham Times, 1885-09-04, Page 7FOR THE FARMER, Historical Contagion. It is an encouraging feet that the 'flatfish and unpatriotic schemes of veterinary al- armiabe have been so often exposed by the outcome of events that farmers and agri- cultural editors no longer stand in awe of their words of thundering sound and billion figures about alleged impending losaea by con•aglou which never comes. The eoetly Kenna fiasco of "foot -end - mouth dlaeaae"—conveuiently brought over from reeking Europe in somebody's aide-pocket—is historical against the '..Animal Industry" diaenoxers, gluttonous of appropriations." The "plenro•pneu- monis" 'selves wildly cantering through Illinois on moonless nights, are not forgotten. There, too, in a minor line of the uua,,vory record, is the "hog -cholera" scare, Superinduced by rat -poison at Poughkeepsie; and the real old ' rinder- peat near New -Hamburg" on the Hudson, RS a cruaher•ont of whioh the last S ate Liglelsture, with wreokless haste, voted $5,000. Then came slue the untaimod lung -plague invasion of roomy Missouri. Fifty thousand dollars was wanted instan- ter to dispose of that, bub when the Treasurer ab Washington deolined to hand out the money—having, happily, heard "rumors of a contemplated big steal' — that particular "ont•breek" (. he latest up to the moment of putterg this paper to press) soddenly joined the mysterious disappearers, and the foiled veterinary Arabs and their allleo quibely stole away, to incubate another. Things that Do Not Pay. NEGLECT. Neglect. It is not a hard word, but it to one of the most prominent ones that hover along life's pathway. Metaphori- cally speaking, few, if any, weeds found growing in the great fields of progressi -n cost us more than the weed of neglect. It seems to steal In almost unawares through many different avenues, ana feed- ing on our sabetance, like a corroding cancer, pulls us back and accomplishes our ruin before we have really studied out where the leak is. We are prone to become too loose or alack with our work and business operations. There is nothing like system and order in every- thing. It is Heaven 'a firab law. Without ib all our eft' Ate are futile, and cur work and toil avail nothing. But plans and systems, howsoever good and perfect they may be, amount co nothing unless they are faithfully carried out. Here is where the rank weeds of Neglect choke the paasageway to the brighter fields of prosperity beyond. Here is where the resolute plow -share should be run un- sparingly, and the common enemy of human advancement exterminated. Let us look at a few of the more com- mon examples of Neglect, and mark well the results. A common cold is thought by most of us to be of little account. As long as we can keep upon our feet we let it take its course. But how often has it terminated In pneumonia, some lingering bronchial affection that has ultimately engendered consumption or some other fatal ma ady 1 It perhaps might have been averted by due attention to the laws of health; but they were neglected, and the evil came. Again, 11 might probably hale been cured by a little proper treat- ment in time; but neglect gives the destroyer power, and stripping as of our hard-earned gains, want, and suffering, and misery step in to crown our agony, and we are carried to the grave. The Clanada thistle is not bhe largest of our common farm weeds, but it hi a very formidable one. It' roots strong and spreads rapidly. Prompt action on its first appearance would soon" stamp it out; but if it is allowed to remain we soon find it all over our fields, and when we come to handle our grain we are often sharply reminded of the provoking pest which our neglect 1- as. allowed to get the better of as. We may not swear, but we go about with sore fingers, wondering what the obnoxious weed could have been created for, and all too late cursing our stupidi- ty for ever allowing the detestable thing a foothold in our productive soil. We scarcely realize how dearly we pay for our neglect in removing the soatterirg surface stones that plow up on our farms. They aro not only unsightly objects that bother ,both man and team in passing over the ground, but it takes twice as long to cultivate the soil, and then it is not done properly ; a plow is broken here and a harrow there; a horse steps on a rough, ugly -shaped boulder, and is lame, for the Reason; but little more than half a Drop can find room to grow; the mowing•machine and horse- jrake suffer in harvest time, requiring oar time frequently at the blacksmith shop; the waggon is wrenched and goes to pieces in driving over the uneven field with a heavy load, and as a consequence the overturned hay is perhaps spoiled by a drenching shower. A few days' work would have rendered the.ground compara- tively . smooth, increased the orop, and averted the train of disaster and ex- pense. `The farmer has an old rotten fence, dilaiefdated by the frosts and snows of winter. He sows his grain, and amid the hurry and bustle of a late 'spring, negleobs to properly repair the surround- ing fence. He neglects to watch the poor places, but his cattle do not, and they break threngh and destroy his orop. Thus his time in plowing and 'sowing comes to nought, and for a year after• wards he must buy his grain, and perhaps be compelled to run in.o debt on account of an hour's neglect. A country seat that always rents—The barbed wire fenoe. A Circus Rider's Victory. There is a good story told of a visit of Robinson, the famous oirous rider, to London fifteen years ago. He had been engaged at a salary of $2.000 a week to ride in Aetley's Royal Amphitheatre, in London. For weeks before he arrived he was heralded as the Irreateet bareback equestratn of the age. To amuse himself he took over with him a team of American trotting horses and a light buggy, but neglected to bring suoh horses as he would need to ride. This oversight rather astonished the English managers, who thought their oontraoe, of course, in- cluded the furnishing of horses. Robin- son made light of the matter, and eaid he could break the animate to his liking in the fortnight intervening between hie arrival and bhe date of his debud, There was nothing left for the manaaera to do than to swallow their disappointment and provide him with horses. These he re- hearsed day after day at the circus with skill and assiduity, but to find ab last that they were beasts far inferior in intent. genre to the Kentucky thoroughbreds with which he was . accustomed to deal. The night of the first appearance of the champion arrived. The great building bearing the historical name of Astley was packed to suffocation to see the perform- ance of the reckless rider from over the sea. Robinson had, however, in the 'short time allowed, been utterly unable to train the English horses to his acts, and as a consequence was at a sad disad- vantage in what he attempted. The best features of his acts, including the vaulting, he failed in. The audience hurried his exit from the ring with hlasea. Weeks passed, James Robinson, who had in the meantime been the butt of ridi- cule, was forgotten. Nightly he was turning flip flops in sawdust with a pack of mountebanks, some of whom did nob know that among their number was the best rider in the world. About the time that the menials about the circus estab- lishment began to whisper that they guessed that "blarsted Yankee" could ride a little bit after all, Robinson called on the manager. "I wish," he said, "that you would bLl me to reappear next Monday night. I would like to try to redeem my reputation. If I don't succeed I'll pack up and go home." With more than a misgiving the posters were pasted up over London's dead walls. Again there was an unusual throng to have their sneer at the presumptuous fellow whom everybody thought had long before gone bsck. Bat the dashing aotor made them laugh on the other side of their mouths. The display of equen- trianiem which he gave threw the house into an eestacy of delight. The way he vaulted on and off the backs of the flying sbeede electrified the frigid hearts before him. Recall after retell made him famous in London town. The news- papers rang with Me praise and spoke of Ms previous failure as a remarkabie re- miniscence. The Astley people were glad enough to renaw the original con- tract to retain the American rider, who returned home two years later, with a European reputation and fifty thousand dollars to boot. HE FOUND AN EL DORADO. DEATH 07 A MAN WHO DISCOVERED GOLD IN CALIFORNIA. James W. Marshall, the discoverer of gold in California, died at his home in Kelsey, Cal., recently. He was 74 years old, and died poor. It was on Jan. 19, 1848, that Marshall made his discovery. He was engaged with two Mormons re- pairing a race for a saw mill ab Sutter's mill on the American fork of the` Sacra- mento River, near the town of Coloma, about thirty-five miles east of Sutter's Fort. The spring freshets had injured the mill race, and Marshall was overseer of the gang engaged in repairing he The story goes that Marshall's little daughter picked up a lump of gold and showed it to her father as a pretty shone. Marshall knew nothing of chemistry or gold mining, and yet could not get rid of the idea that he had secured a nugget of gold. Every day he went searching through the mill race for other bits of the precious metal. The men at the mill laughed at him, and called him crazy, and they kept at work repairing the race, sowing wheat, and planting vegetables. The fierce current in the mill race had washed a good deal of the ore out, and Marshall found no difficulty in securing a number of specimens of what he believed to be gold. Then his assimilates began to think he might be right. About the mid- dle of February one of the party went to San Francisco with specimens of the ore, for the purpose of learning whether it was really gold. The first man who examined the 'specimens was an old Georgia miner, who at one recognized the precious metal. He at once went to bhe epot where Mr. Marshall had got his specimens. The old mill was going, and no gold had been thought of by anybody else. In a short time the Georgia miner dug out a lot of fine epeotmens of gold ore, richer than anything that had been found in Georgia. He got the men at the mill to make rook - era, and they all eeasily rooked out an ounce a day. The news spread rapidly, and by the end of the year miners were at work on every largo stream of bhe Sierra Nevada, also in the Sacramento valley. The result wa the discovery of the most prollfio gold region of the world. The six -feet gauge is rapidly disappearing from American railways. The five -feet gauge in the South is also being replaced, and the probability is that the standard gauge will soon be a rule to whioh the nar- row gauge will be the only exceptton. GIVING SIGHT TO THE BLIND, AN OLD WOaIAN WHOSE LIFELONG BLINDNESS WAS REMEDIED, On Feb. 4, 1884, a negrees presented herself at the eye clinic of the German- town hospital, suffering with cataracts. The lenses were opaque, with well mark- ed deposits of calcareous concretions, situated in the anterior or visible portions of the lenses. Upon examination, good projection of light was obtained. The history elicited was throb since birth the vision had not ohanged, simply being able to diatinguiah day from night, or the light of a lamp, or the shadow of a dark object when broughb directly in front of the patient's face. Foaling assured of the sensibility of the retina, an operation for the cataract in one eye was suggested, and was perform- ed. The lens was enocesafully removed in its capsule with a Critchetb's epoon. There was a small loss of vitreous, whioh was fluid. The eye was cl• sed immediately, and the wound healed without reaction; the eye being bathed daily with a mild astringent lotion, but the lid was not dis- turbed. At the end of eight days the bandages were removed, when it was found that the wound was closed ands keyhole irido- tomy existed whioh was perfect in out- line and showed a calor media. The pa- tient was astonished ; she could see ob. jects several feet distant, but was quite at a lues to unde~stand the visual, pheno- mena. She was quite nervous from thn Elliot of the shock, and started violently and closed her eyes as if from fear. She was unable to name any object placed be- fore her, but readily dtatingulahed it when her hand was placid upon it. A few moments afterward she readily dis- tinguished a watch which was shown her. This was distinguished, not by Ha form but by its ticking. At this time wools of different colors were placed before her, and a certain one given to be matched, which was done without confusion, prov- ing accurate sensibility of the retina to the most delicate tints, although not a name was known to the patient. After several days the object and wool test was made again. When looking at a distance she tried to grasp the objects, and a flock of sparrows were supposed to be tea cups. Owing to herfirat impreesion of distances, she was for quite a time afraid to walk with her eyes open, the floor appearing ab a distance. A red and black color produced pain in her eyeballs, while green and white were soothing. After the bandages were removed she was al- lowed the fredom of a moderately lighted room to become accustomed to the objects about her, as well as to learn to measure distances ; she repeat(dly refused to walk, although the nurse assured her that no danger would befall her in the effort. The patient was soon able to associate the name with bhe obj act, and at the end of some weeks, in the meantime using her eye constantly, she was able to men- tion all the objects in the ward of the hospital, but at times would make mis- takes as ludicrous as the birds and the teacups. In .January of this year the right eye was operated on; no reaction followed, and she is now able to see per- fectly with both eyes. Her color fields were accurately meas- ured at different times, and found to cor-. respond to Lanaolt's measurements. The fundus ooculi presents a peculiar picture. The disks are oval in shape, while the distribution of vessels are few in number, and do not extend beyond the equator— they run into capillaries, and were not recognizable with the ophthalmoscope. The lenses were found to be only two- thirds the size of an ordinary adult lens. Instead of being convex in shape, they were found to be almost spheroidal. The patient is now employed as a general ser- vant in the hospital. A Lost Aeronaut. Mr. F. A. Gower lately carried on a series of experiments with a view to test- ing the adaptability of balloons bo war purposes. Mr. Gower; who is well known to the scientific world as a joint patentee of the famous Gower Bell telephone, had made Hythe the centre of his operations, and thence made several ascents. His final undertaking in this country was a aucceesful aerial voyage across the Channel early in Jane. He continued his trial trips in France, and met with a misad- venture while awaiting an opportunity of returning in balloon to England. Undeterred by this, he made an ascent on the 18th of July from Cherbourg, and since that date nothing definite is known of his whereabouts. A pilot balloon which he had previously despatched has been found and sent on to Hythe ; and a balloon has keen picked up without a car some thirty miles off Dieppe. Sixteen days having now elapsed since the ascent, and no message having been received fe"om Mr. Gower, whose invariable prac- tise it was at once to notify by wire his safety at either Cherbourg or Hythe, at both of whioh placee•he has left property, the gravest fears are entertained that he has been drowned. The experiments being carried on by Mr. Gower were within bhe cognizance of the Govern- ment, and have so far proved of a very 'satisfactory character. Labelling Children. Babyhood urges upon parents the im- portance of "labelling " little children by always marking their full name's and ad- dresses in indelible ink on 'some easily accessible part of their clothing, such as the imide of the collar band. There can be no doubt that such a custom would be fruitful of many good remits, and go far coward alleviating the anxiety of parents in oases of their little ones straying away from home, or becoming lout in a crowd, or disabled by an accident. 0 a' The Prince Imperial's Grave. Ib le imposelble not to be deeply im. pressed by a visit to suoh a place as the spot where the Prince Imperial was kill- ed, and if you think they would be of any interest J send you a few brief Inv pressions of the spot. The first thing that atrikes one is the extreme beauty and order of the little enclosure. It looks like a little flower garden with slop- ing banks on each side. Ib was really, it seems, originally a dry donga with dark black nand, and the bottom is filled with the enclosure and Dross whereas bhe slop- ing aides of bhe donga are covered with pretty green cypresses and pines now, perhaps, six feet high. The country round le fearfully plain, and near the place where the Prince was killed little broken dongas abound. Bub the eye rests on the pretty arrangement in the planted enclosure with pleasure. There is first a little square, about ten feet long and eight feet broad, enclosed with beautiful white quartz stones brought from Emblungwane Hill, close by. It looks like a little marble,,wall a foot high. Then the white stone arose, pub up by Queen Victoria, stands on a pedestal, eat up on some of the same whitish stones. A long inscription says how it was pub up by Queen Victoria to the memory of the Prince Napoleon, who was killed here, with his fade to the foe Th we is also in the enclosure a long, flat raised altar tomb, with a cross worked upon it in stones, and at the foot of this is a little crucifix, with an inscription in French. Higher up in the enoloeed piece of ground is the site of another grave, with a recumbent cross I suppose to the memory of a soldier who was kil- led at the same time (Trooper Rogers, I think, of Bettington's Horse), bub no name is to be seen. A native was also killed at the same time. The trees look so nice and green, and there are several little beds made with stone edgings in which are planted hydrangeas, lilies and little shrubs. But care and keeping in order are evident everywhere. There la a little wooden cross fast decaying, which records that it was put up to mark the epob by the Royal Scota Fusiliers. The little place looks very pretty. and outside are all the dry, long grass and the ugly dongae. One (Tonga with water runs clone to the atone steps which lead to the cemetery, and an embankment has jest been put up to prevenb the water from washing away the foundations of the wall which runs all round the en- closure, and on the top of which are planted aloes. About fifty yards off is the mealie gardens the kraal is now gone) where the prince rested. He seems to have been getting away on foot when he was killed, his horse having broken from him. The river Ityotyozi is about 100 yards below the gardens. The ground slopes to the river, where the Z alas were first seen. is about a quarter of a mile off, but could make a circuitous hidden approach. The place is four hours' ride from Rorke's drift, or more, and in a desolate part of the country. Mrs. Gladstone. Mrs. Gladstone is a helpmeet to the great English statesman In many ways. She looks after his health, Bees to it that he is meld id and wrapped up after an ex- hausting speech, and as the following anecdote, from London Society, shows, gently admonishes his wayward friends: Two years ago, when Mr- W. E. Fors- ter had res'gned hie portfolio in Mr. Gladstone'e Cabinet, he was naturally an- xious tt, hear how the Prime Minister would speak of the incident in the House of Commons, and not less anxious to lis- ten without being observed himself. He therefore did not take his plane In the body of that assemblage, but made his way into the ladies' cage, or rather that portion of it which it set apart for the lady friends of the wife "of the Speak- er. i)irectly he had entered, he perceived that the sole occupant of the department was no less a person than Mrs. Glad- stone herself. She was the ono person whom he would have avoided seeing. He felt a little discomposed, and was proceeding to evince his discomposure in the rugged, spasmodic way peculiar to that flower of Quaker subtlety. But Mrs. Gladstone was perfectly at her ease. She held up her finger at him, and shaking her head wlth an air of gen- tle removal, muttered, in a low voice, "Naughty I Naughty!" . 4* Brigands in Albania. Recent reports from Albania indicate that brigandage, which was repressed for a time by the firm action of Turkish and Greek soldier's, has broken out again. A concerted raid was recently made on different parts of Epirus. and a number of ladies were parried off and are now held for most extravagant ransoms. Short- ly after their capture the brigands sent a long curl of hair to a merchant, Raying the lock was from the head of his daughter and if the ransom was not sent back im- mediately he would gee another reminder. Ten days later bhe unhappy father was sent the left hand ofhis ohild,with aring on one of the fingers bywhichhe recognized the severed member. The ransom far exceed- ed the merchant's resources, and al- though he sent a letter bo the brigands begging for time, he is almost frantic when ho thinks what may be the olnso- quenoes of delay. The P orbe has been appealed to and has sent orders to the ruling pashas instructing them to organ- ize a force and capture the mountain rob- bers if poeelbla. Lord Itosebery has given up racing, and his horses in training have been sold, lie has let his house and stables at Newmarket to Lord Durham. ROUND ..r. .aces israsfr :i>!!ORILD. Rabbits are such a peeBnen%Vtsbs ra.... Valley, Nev,, that farmers vMAUIg the India as with powder ' in order to kill them off. Statisticians state that one ol` six hon :,. dred graduates of a well-knoen:Ladies'• `' college, scarcely one-third have entered, the holy state el matrimony, , ' Boston's famous lawyer, Sydney. Barb lett, la eighty-six years old, and estimated - to be worth $12,000,000, chiefly derived from excellent railroad speculation's. • „ Drinking water, says a hygenio writer, may be tested in this simple way ; "FilJi a pint bottle three quarters full of tho water. Dissolve in it one half teaspoon- ful of the beat white sugar. Set it away in a warm place for forty•oight hours. If the water becomes cloudy it is unfit to drink," Jet blank spots, varying in size from a pin head to a half dollar, mark a male child born in Dayton, a week or 'so "ago. The left foot is all black, and about one. third of the body is the same color. The boy ie perfectly healthy, as are his par- ents. The epote reaemble those on a c.rachdog. The forecaa'e of the weather bureaus of France w,ere verified last year in ninety cases out of every hundred, the percent- age having steadily risen from 81 in 1881 to 83 in 1882, and to 87 in 1883. Out of 182 alarm signals sent to the ports, 128 were fully verified,. 24 were fairly correct, 37 were incorrect, and only two gales were not foreseen. The decline of panperlsm in London is remarkable when it is remembered how rapidly the city is growing year by year. Thus in the second week In July the to- tal number of indoor and cu -.door paupers relieved in the Metrops lis was 83,559 against 85 208 in the correepsnding week of the year before, and as many as 86,408 in the corresponding week of 1882. The extremely low prices of food may account for this. It is stated that whereas in 1867 and 1868 England's part in the trade of the world was 20 per cent., in 1882 it had fallen to 19i, and in the latter year her share in the export trade of Europe was 6 per cent leas than it had been eighteen years before, It is also shown that in 1883 England furnished only 40 per cent. of the coal used in the world, while in 1868 she supplied 53 per cent. of it. In cotton goods and iron produce a similar decline of over 6 per cent. is shown to have occurred during the last fifteen years. The system carried out in Vienna for educating girls is certainly worthy of notice. They are kept at their "studies until they are fifteen years of age. They then go through a course of teaching in the pantry and the kitchen under some member of the family, or sometimes under trained nooks for a year or two years. Thus they learn to do everything them- selves, and to know the value of things long before they commence .housekeeping on their own account ; and though they may never be required to c 'ok a dinner, they become independent of cooks and servants. The Austrian women are most affectionate wives and mothers. They are as accomp;ished and learned as any English governess, are as witty in society as a Parisian, and are some of the moat beautiful women in Europe. Now that the gnu and projectile makers are devoting so much attention tc the im- provement of war -arms. it is gratifying to hear that the needs of the poor skirmisher in the open field are not overlooked. A shield has been invented, said to be bul- let-proof. whicn may be attached to the muzzle of a rifle, like a bayonet, and be - bind which the soldier can lie, the shield affording both protection for his person and a rest for his gun. The disc weighs only three pounds and can be easily car. rted. In the ancient day of the spear and bow bhe protective armament of the soldier was as mnch a feature of his equipment as hie destruc ;ive instruments, but it seems that the more deadly the latter have become, the more rapidly has the former been abandoned. The other day the leading Bonapartiste of France gathered at the handsome tomb of the Groat Napoleon and commemorated his birbh, though it is prebable the record of that event was changed to prevent dis- agreeable entanglements, owing to the cession of Corsica to France at a period later than Napoleon's real entrance upon the scene of life. It is a significant thing that no much human glory as once stir. rounded Napoleon's name and empire should have dwindled to such ill•repute, and descended, through the several stages with which the world is familiar, to a set of people so unimportant among their fellowmen. Napolean, whose dearest wish was to have appeared a Marcus Aureliae, born in advance of his proper time, lives in history, truly the greatest of soldiers, bub an Alexander without the apology of having reigned in an untutor- ed age. A Foot -and -Mouth Complaint. Napoleon I. was excessively obstinate. When difference of opinion arose he would storm so loud and stamp with his feet that his opponents could seldom get in a word. General Bernadotte, afterward King of Sweden, had to pub up with a good deal of that sort of thing, and after awhile he kept unbroken silence on theme occaslons. But this pleased bhe Emperor no better, for once when the General lapsed into silence he exclaimed : " Why don't yotr speak 1 I see by your looks that you have weightyobjecbions to make," Certainly, sire," Bernadotte admitted. " Booauso I have no inclination to argue bhe point with your Majesty's boots.